Truth With Light

𝖤𝗇𝗍𝗋𝗒 #𝟣𝟨: 𝖲𝗅𝖾𝗇𝖽𝖾𝗋𝗆𝖺𝗇

{ internet origins. }

Prior to online authors creating horror stories implementing the tall, faceless man, the first appearance of Slender Man surfaced on a thread on the SomethingAwful Forums. The purpose of the thread was for users to submit photoshopped images depicting the paranormal. This was when Victor Surge—alternatively known as Eric Knudsen—uploaded the first known photo of Slender Man to grace the internet. Over time, users replied to the submission with supplementary material of their own to provide origin stories of the character.

One of the earliest additions to the submission post was from user Thoreau-Up, who created a folklore story set in 16th-century Germany. The story revolved around a "fairy" implied to be the Slender Man, though they assumed the folk name of Der Groẞman (Der Grossman).

Later, a user by the name of ce gars created a post about his friend, Alex, who gradually grew less like himself while filming his first full-length student film which was set in a heavily-wooded area. This post was the start to a web-series which would later be considered the catalyst of Slender Man's internet popularity. This series is Marble Hornets, which later influenced the production of other Slenderverse web-series such as EverymanHYBRID and TribeTwelve.

Due to Marble Hornets' creation, the first official Slender Man video game, Slender—since re-branded as Slender: The Eight Pages—was released. Later versions of the game additionally came with a "Marble Hornets mode" as tribute to the source of inspiration. News of this video game was quickly spread across various platforms, to which YouTubers such as PewDiePie and Markiplier created their own let's plays featuring their reactions to it. It's partially due to larger content creators the game gained extensive popularity on the internet, and Slender as a character had been introduced to people worldwide.

{ depictions in cave paintings. }

Despite how Slender Man's origins on the internet were confirmed to have begun on the SomethingAwful Forums, Slender Man had allegedly been documented prior to the thread in the form of cave illustrations. One of the most popular examples of a cave painting depiction of Slender Man is the following.

This is an image which can be reverse Google Image searched in order to reveal its true roots; the picture is a digitally manipulated edit of a source image. The original image depicts the same figure featured in the edited product, but without the tendril-like formations. Outside of the inclusion of the tendrils, the figure shares no further qualities of Slender Man. 

Another popular depiction of Slender Man in prehistoric cave paintings is the following image.

Reverse image searching for this photo didn't return with particularly conflicting results. Google suggested the image originated from a book about graphic design, where it was provided as an example of prehistoric art design—confirming it as a genuine cave painting. However, the figure presented in the image doesn't necessarily have to be Slender Man.

An opinion among fellow theorists is that the figure is symbolic of Death or the Grim Reaper. The figure in the illustration is dark and thin, appearing to loom over everyone while they appear oblivious as they cross under its shadow. Death takes everyone, and we blindly traipse through life without knowing when it comes for us, but it's always observing. We're always ever closer to lurking in its shadow.

A more literal approach to the drawing could possibly yield correct results as well, and only simply be a matter of perspective. The tall being appears to be shaded in the darkest of all of the figures illustrated. Additionally, the people next to the tall individual all appear to be hovering above the implied line of the ground, provided ground level is at the base of the tall figure. This can give the impression the group of people aren't within the foreground of the painting, but further in the distance toward the horizon. If this theory is correct, this cave drawing isn't of a tall man at all. Instead, it's a matter of perspective in design.

There may even be the possibility the alleged Slender Man figure isn't a person at all. Perhaps it's an oddly-shaped architectural structure, as the proportions wouldn't make sense for a primarily humanoid figure.